A longtime family friend has an annual summer solstice camping weekend on land his family homesteaded near Westcliffe, CO. It is at the base of the Sangre de Christo Mountains, with pine, aspen stands, a meadow and a creek running through the property. A few years ago he built a small cabin and an outdoor eating/kitchen/grilling area. He also has two fire pits - perfect for smores and stories.
This would be my first time participating in his \"Mountain Challenge\" he started a couple years back. A bracket tournament style event where points are awarded for 1st-5th on 4 events: ladder ball, corn hole, horseshoes and frisby golf (he has an 18 hole course set up throughout his property). Not bad on the first time, as I came in 2nd.
Horseshoes - my brother & nephew:
Ladder ball and corn hole, with my wife in the foreground:
My brother had a great idea after visiting Samoa on slow cooking some Samoan style pork. We built a large bonfire of several cantaloupe and smaller sized rocks, so that all the rocks were hot. My bro made \"rock tongs\" out of aspens by cutting out the middle so we could move the hot rocks. Once the fire and coals died down, we put the pork on the single layer of hot rocks. The real way is to wrap the pork in cabbage then in banana leaves - well, we used aluminum foil instead of banana leaves. Then, we piled the other hot rocks on top of the foil wrapped cabbage. Lastly more foil placed over the rock pile to keep the heat in. We let it slow cook for 8 hours. Next time we will use more cabbage - even used 3 heads this time, but man was this stuff to die for!
My bro and I:
My son helping out:
Our host in the Harvard shirt:
My boys liked shooting their BB guns for the first time, and making smores.
I also found some elk through the spotting scope about 5 miles away. They are near the ridge of the mountain, which is almost directly above my tent in this photo.
It was a great weekend, as it was sunny Sat and Sun, where we thought we would get heavy rain, so everything worked out well for a nice trip!
This would be my first time participating in his \"Mountain Challenge\" he started a couple years back. A bracket tournament style event where points are awarded for 1st-5th on 4 events: ladder ball, corn hole, horseshoes and frisby golf (he has an 18 hole course set up throughout his property). Not bad on the first time, as I came in 2nd.
Horseshoes - my brother & nephew:
Ladder ball and corn hole, with my wife in the foreground:
My brother had a great idea after visiting Samoa on slow cooking some Samoan style pork. We built a large bonfire of several cantaloupe and smaller sized rocks, so that all the rocks were hot. My bro made \"rock tongs\" out of aspens by cutting out the middle so we could move the hot rocks. Once the fire and coals died down, we put the pork on the single layer of hot rocks. The real way is to wrap the pork in cabbage then in banana leaves - well, we used aluminum foil instead of banana leaves. Then, we piled the other hot rocks on top of the foil wrapped cabbage. Lastly more foil placed over the rock pile to keep the heat in. We let it slow cook for 8 hours. Next time we will use more cabbage - even used 3 heads this time, but man was this stuff to die for!
My bro and I:
My son helping out:
Our host in the Harvard shirt:
My boys liked shooting their BB guns for the first time, and making smores.
I also found some elk through the spotting scope about 5 miles away. They are near the ridge of the mountain, which is almost directly above my tent in this photo.
It was a great weekend, as it was sunny Sat and Sun, where we thought we would get heavy rain, so everything worked out well for a nice trip!
